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NRA suing over background check for gun buyers

The National Rifle Association announced December 1 that it was filing
a lawsuit to block the FBI from keeping records on instant background
checks that are now mandatory for all gun sales. The NRA charges that
a federal law that went into effect a day earlier is "an illegal
national registration" that violates the privacy of gun owners.

An estimated 12.4 million firearms are sold each year in the United
States. All will be covered by background checks, as will an additional
2.5 million annual transactions when an owner retrieves a firearm from
a pawn shop.

The new system is required under the Brady Law, which established federal
background checks for handgun purchasers almost five years ago. As of
November 30, people buying rifles and shotguns must submit to checks,
too.

The federal system had some technical delays on its first day, but the
FBI says that once the process is working smoothly, approvals should
take just three minutes.
NRA challenge

Federal law prohibits the purchase of guns by felons, the mentally
ill and people convicted of domestic violence. States can add other
categories.
The NRA suit deals with collecting the names of customers who are approved
for a gun purchase.

"There's absolutely no purpose served by the FBI keeping this
list. These are people who are approved, who have no record, who have
committed no crime," said NRA spokesman Bill Powers.

The FBI rejects the accusations. "We're not going to violate the
law. We want to maintain records in our system ... for statistical sampling
and internal audits," said Jim Kessler, program director for the
National Instant Criminal Background Check system.

Kessler said the agency needed to keep records on the requested background
checks so it could audit the performance of its own staff and to ensure
that firearms sellers didn't use the background checks for other purposes.

The FBI said it would decide by February how long it needed to keep
the records, but would probably opt for less than six months.

Kessler said the FBI records included only the person's name, date
of birth, sex, race and state of residence, as well as whether they
wanted to buy a rifle, another type of "long gun" or a handgun.

The FBI was not collecting data on the make or model of the gun purchased
or the prospective buyer's street address.

"We want to make sure the system is being used for its right intention
and people are making the right calls on when to (approve the purchase)
and are not selling a gun to someone who shouldn't have one," Kessler
said.

"You could use the system for a lot of purposes -- to check on
your neighbor, to check on your daughter's boyfriend, and that's not
the purpose of this system," he said.

Audit of IRS reveals problems with security measures

A new audit of the Internal Revenue Service's security operation has
found potentially costly problems at the agency.

IRS used bicycle couriers to transport taxpayers' checks to banks and
hired employees with criminal pasts, according to the audit by the congressional
General Accounting Office.

At one office, a bicycle messenger was entrusted with up to $100 million
in deposits every day.

The GAO said a courier left a $200 million deposit unattended in a
car with a window open.

Investigators found that unarmed couriers driving civilian cars alone,
or riding bicycles were used at four IRS service centers, to deliver
tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer checks.

IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti did not challenge results of the
audit released December 1 but said the IRS is taking steps to remedy
its security weaknesses.

"We take our responsibility to protect taxpayer information very
seriously," Rossotti said. "We plan to continue working with
GAO to do everything possible to ensure the security of taxpayer information
and payments."

The GAO visited IRS service centers in Atlanta; Philadelphia; Austin,
Texas; and Ogden, Utah, from April 20-23, during this year's tax filing
peak. Practices at district offices in Los Angeles, northern California
and northern Texas were also observed.

Although the deposits did not include cash, taxpayer checks contain
such private information as bank account and Social Security numbers,
names and addresses and signatures. They can be "cloned,"
using account numbers, into fake bank accounts if stolen.

"The theft of one peak season deposit could place a significant
administrative burden on IRS to contact taxpayers and initiate stop
payment orders on tens of thousands of checks," GAO investigators
wrote.

The audit did not identify any instances of such a theft. But the GAO
did cite lack of adequate background checks in 12 of the 80 IRS employee
thefts, or about 15 percent, investigated from January 1995 to July
1997. Those 80 thefts totaled some $5.3 million and were detailed in
a previous GAO audit.

In most cases, delays in receiving fingerprint results, combined with
a crush of new hires during peak filing season, meant that some people
were on the job before their backgrounds were thoroughly vetted by the
IRS. The employees handle cash, checks and private taxpayer information.

The IRS hired 20 000 seasonal employees in 1997 to handle peak filing
season, when up to 100 000 pieces of mail a day are received and processed
at agency service centers. The fingerprint checks took an average of
68 days -- one took 141 days -- instead of the 21 days that had been
expected.

GAO also found that taxpayer checks were often stored in unrestricted
areas, contrary to IRS policy, meaning unauthorized employees would
have greater access to them. In one case, the documents were stored
in a hallway adjacent to a fitness center where anyone could enter unchallenged.

Rossotti said the agency intends to have better deposit transporting
methods in place by August 1999 and other security improvements involving
handling of receipts should be ready by January 1.

In addition, IRS within two months intends to have a new, live fingerprint
scanner at 17 sites, including the 10 service centers, that can complete
FBI checks within five days, Rossotti said.

Still, Sen. William Roth, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee,
which oversees the IRS, expressed dismay over the audit's findings.

"The IRS has a responsibility to protect taxpayers' money and
to safeguard each taxpayer's personal information," said Roth,
R-Del. "Unfortunately, many of the service centers have not been
taking appropriate precautions."

Union leader calls for the right of the military to unionize

The deplorable living conditions for the military and their families
as evidenced in the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans
Affairs Report has led Canadian Auto Workers union president Basil "Buzz"
Hargrove to call on the government to pass legislation allowing the
military to unionize.

Hargrove sent a letter to Minister of National Defence Art Eggleton
saying the report can "only be interpreted as a condemnation of
the government's ability to deal with the legitimate quality of life
issues facing men, women and children who are part of the military family
serving our community."

"I do not lay the blame solely on the current Liberal government
but on successive governments who have failed to deal with this problem."

The report indicated military families are living in substandard housing
with some having to resort to food banks to make ends meet.

If the military unionizes, will any work actually get done anywhere
in the country?

West Antarctic ice sheet not in jeopardy...another nail in the Greenhoax
Effect debate?

The west Antarctic ice sheet is not melting rapidly, is reasonably
stable and has been so for more than a century, according to an international
team of scientists.

The ice sheet is the largest grounded repository of ice on the planet
and some scientists caught up in the debate over global warming have
argued that the melting of this ice sheet would lead to a dramatic rise
in sea levels.

The international team of scientists, who reported their findings in
the journal Science, analyzed five years of satellite radar measurements
covering a large part of the Antarctic ice sheet in an effort to determine
if there is any direct evidence of the ice sheet melting.

"Based on our short, five-year period of observation of the interior
of Antarctica, we do not seem to detect that the ice is melting more
than one centimeter per year," said explained C.K. Shum, an associate
professor of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science
at Ohio State University.

"That would mean that the interior Antarctic ice sheet does not
seem to be contributing to sea level rise more than 1 millimeter per
year."

Shum and his colleagues from University College in London and the Delft
University of Technology in the Netherlands, analyzed radar data retrieved
from two European Space Agency remote sensing satellites -- ESA-1 and
ESA-2 -- used to measure ice altitudes from 1992 through 1996.

The orbits of the satellites reached far enough North to allow them
to regularly monitor at least 60 percent of the continent's grounded
ice.

While the researchers had to devise new algorithms to decipher the
raw, ice sheet data and correct for several variables such as radar
penetration below the ice surface and snow accumulation, they say the
study represents the longest time series for which data is available.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is planning a new
mission for the year 2001 called ICESAT. It would position a new satellite
in a near-polar orbit, increasing the amount of ice sheet coverage,
and use a more accurate laser altimeter to take measurements.

These, combined with the radar data, would give a much better assessment
of mass balance changes, if any, in the Antarctic ice sheets.

Crackdown in France on work

In France, nearly all transactions between consenting adults are legal
-- unless, of course, you want to work.France is virtually the only
developed country in the world where it is up to the state to make sure
people don't work longer than the legal weekly limit -- generally 39
hours, not including overtime.

In a recent government crackdown, hundreds of labor inspectors have
been counting cars after hours in parking lots, checking office entry-and-departure
records and quizzing employees about their schedules. Several large
companies have been fined for allowing employees, including managers,
to stay longer than the legal limits on the regular workweek and overtime.

Corporate executives say the crackdown illustrates the difficulties
France faces as it tries to adapt to a world of untrammeled international
capitalism. French companies, many recently privatized, have streamlined
and modernized and now produce some of the finest goods and services
in the world.

But many executives say French labor laws are holding corporations
back. An upcoming four-hour reduction in the legal workweek to 35 hours
-- with no cut in pay -- is exacerbating the complaints.

"We are in worldwide competition. If we lose one point of productivity,
we lose orders," said Henri Thierry, human resources director for
Thomson-CSF Communications, based in a Paris suburb. "If we're
obliged to go to 35 hours, it would be like requiring French athletes
to run the 100 meters wearing flippers. They wouldn't have much chance
of winning a medal."

The high-tech firm, which makes half its sales outside France, is fighting
a $2 million fine for 2,000 overtime-law violations in three months.
It was nabbed when the overtime police scanned employee entry-and-exit
records generated by the company's security-badge system.

Thomson was fined despite the "work less" drive it began
this year. It hired a consulting firm to help workers become more efficient,
and the electronic badge system shuts down at 7:30 p.m.; late-leavers
had to sign a list and be shown out by a security guard.

Employees at many high-tech companies here take work home to keep their
employers out of trouble, smuggling laptops and cellular phones under
their raincoats if they think labor inspectors are peeking, according
to the French press.

An Exaggeration: Unions and labor inspectors say companies exaggerate
in claiming that France is filled with executives dying to work more
hours than the laws allow.

"The basic problem is a growing excess of work. These are real
problems, enough to affect the personal life of people," said Claude-Emmanuel
Triomphe, a director in the government's labor-inspection office for
the Paris region.

"We think it's too much. It's not just us. It's because employees
tell us so. Five or six years ago, we got very few complaints from managers.
That has changed," Triomphe said. The proportion of managers who
want to work more "is much smaller than many companies would like
you to believe."

The current 39-hour legal workweek in France is comparable to other
European countries. Most employees are paid by the hour, with overtime
paid above 39 hours.

As in the United States, certain kinds of higher-salaried employees
can be declared exempt from hourly pay, but even they generally are
limited to a 42-hour workweek.

Executives can work 46 hours if permission is obtained, but no one
in France, not even the most powerful corporate chieftain, is allowed
to work more than 48 hours a week. Or, with such exceptions as restaurants
and delicatessens, on Sunday.

Canadian politicians living like kings? You be the judge

While the Canadian federal government bickers over compensation for
hepatitis C victims and decent tax breaks, is a Roman-tiled steam bath
for MPs out of the question? No problem.

The MPs' gym on the 8th floor of the Confederation Building has just
undergone a refit and refurnishing and if the government wants to know
why estimates for renovating Parliament Hill complex have soared from
$483 million to $1.4 billion, it might check out this gym for a hint.

Liberal whip Bob Kilger, who chairs the Commons board of internal economy,
said his group asked public works to fix a sauna that was leaking into
MPs' offices below and to replace some outdated equipment.

The end result was a redesigned gym full of neat new machines and a
Roman-style steam bath, at a cost estimated by Kilger to be $40 000.

But Public Works Minister Alfonso Gagliano, who December 2 appointed
an independent committee to advise the government of renovations for
the parliamentary compound, said his department just did what the board
asked.

Regardless of who ordered it, MPs now have a Roman-style steam bath
to complement the traditional wood-panelled dry-heat saunas already
in the gym and the "massage therapist" who is on duty free
of charge during opening hours. The gym has also has banks of new stair-climbers,
stationary bicycles, walking machines, four-in-one gyms and free weights,
and four television sets to keep the exercising politicians entertained.

There's also a beer machine and the six brands available can be obtained
at the discount price of C$1.75 a can.

The gym also has a second floor with several private cubicles equipped
with exercise gear for those shy souls who don't like to be watched
while they sweat.

Some regulars have staked out their own lockers by taping on their business
cards, including Revenue Minister Herb Dhaliwal and Veteran Affairs
Minister Fred Mifflin, ex-solicitor general Andy Scott, Liberal MP Peter
Adams and Tory House Leader Peter MacKay.

Canada's Manning urges right wing to 'save nation'

Right-wing political parties must unite their forces - and votes -
to save Canada, Reform party Leader Preston Manning says.

"The Liberals are injuring the country through their tax policies,
their health policies, their unwillingness to reform the federation,"
Manning told reporters following a speech on December 2 on the so-called
united alternative. "There's a need for change and alternatives."

Manning, Tory Ontario Transportation Minister Tony Clement and several
former federal candidates for Reform and the Progressive Conservatives
called on about 400 people to join them in forming one party to fight
the governing Liberals.

They will be holding a convention in Ottawa in February in an attempt
to turn the rhetoric into a full-fledged political movement.

Despite garnering the support of just 38 per cent of Canadians in the
last federal election, Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien formed
a second majority government that is raising taxes, cutting health care
and thumbing its nose at the wishes of the majority, Manning said.

Reformers, Tories and others must come together to put an end to that,
he said.

Clement called the February convention and its aftermath the "last
chance for a generation to sort out the differences between us that
divide us.

"If we fail to grasp this opportunity, my children's children
will be grown up before a Liberal leaves 24 Sussex Dr.," Clement
said in reference to the Prime Minister's Ottawa home. "In fact,
if we fail now, I genuinely fear for Canada's future."

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein will be the keynote speaker at the Ottawa
convention and is considered a leadership contender.
Clement and other senior Ontario Tories are also on-side, although Premier
Mike Harris has said he's too busy governing the province to become
involved.

Manning has said he will seek to lead any united party that may emerge,
even though some key players within the movement have said he will be
unable to bring the two sides together.

"I'm prepared to live with the results," Manning said of
a leadership vote.

Gore questions 'compassionate conservatism'

Vice President Al Gore, warming up on December 2 for his likely presidential
campaign or early entry into the White House, dismissed the claims of
George W. Bush and other Republicans who promise a new brand of "compassionate
conservatism."

Bush's office called the remarks "a little odd."

In a keynote address to the Democratic Leadership Council, Gore questioned
whether GOP leaders govern as compassionately as their rhetoric suggests.
"'Compassion' is more than a pretty word," he said. "There
is a long road between rhetoric and results."

He didn't mention Bush by name, but aides said the address was aimed
squarely at the Texas governor, who is a son of former President Bush.
The younger Bush is the early front-runner for the GOP presidential
nomination in 2000.

Neither man has declared his intention to run for president. Still,
the exchange seemed like the first blush of the 2000 campaign.

"I do think it's a little odd," Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes
said from Austin, Texas. "The vice president must be a little nervous
about an election that is two years away to take on a governor who has
not even decided whether he will run or not."

Bush, re-elected November 3 by a wide margin, coined the phrase "compassionate
conservatism" to explain his efforts to maintain core GOP values
without turning away moderate Republican and Democratic voters.

Quipped Hughes: "I wonder which part the vice president disagrees
with: 'compassionate' or "conservative."'

Other popular GOP governors, such as Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin and
John Engler of Michigan, have also set a middle-road course.

Gore told the Democratic group, "Some now say that what we need
is 'compassionate conservatism.' They call for opportunity, combined
with responsibility." As a sarcastic aside, he added: "I wonder
where that came from."

He was suggesting that Bush and like-minded Republicans are borrowing
from President Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council, a group
of moderate Democrats who held their 13th annual convention the same
Day Gore spoke. Gore, the group's keynote speaker, shared billing with
three Democrats who may challenge him for the nomination: Sen. Bob Kerrey
of Nebraska, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and House Minority Leader
Dick Gephardt of Missouri.

Gore dominated the show early, using his speech to test the themes
of his yet-to-be-announced presidential campaign. He said the party
must seize the "new and dynamic center" in American politics
to improve families' lives in ways large and small, protect the elderly,
improve local communities and maintain the nation's dominance on the
world stage.

A laundry list of poll-tested policies included promises to protect
consumer privacy and reduce freeway gridlock. He called his approach
"practical idealism" then spoke dismissively of Bush's slogan.

"There is a difference between using the rhetoric of the center
and actually governing from the center," he said. Gore argued that
Democrats act with more compassion on issues such as Social Security,
education and crime fighting.

"Republicans serenaded mom and apple pie, even as they vetoed
Family and Medical Leave twice leaving mom to struggle without security
when a baby needed her care," Gore said. "We see that it is
too damn hard right now to pay the bills and juggle day care and spend
time with your kids."

Former congressman, ex-Senate candidate says he's gay

Michael Huffington, a California millionaire who spent $28 million
in an unsuccessful campaign for the Senate in 1994, disclosed in the
January issue of Esquire that he is gay.

The author of the story, David Brock, told the newspaper that Huffington
first raised his sexual orientation while visiting Brock at his home
in Rehobeth Beach, Del., last Memorial Day weekend and sat for more
than 20 hours of interviews.

"I know now that my sexuality is part of who I am," Huffington,
51, was quoted in the article.

Huffington and his wife, conservative columnist Arianna Huffington,
were divorced last year after 11 years of marriage during which they
had two children. He had told her of his past homosexual activity when
they were engaged, Brock wrote.

In 1994, Huffington, then a Republican member of the House from Los
Angeles, lost a Senate race against incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., despite pouring $28 million into the effort.

High taxes good for economy: Manley

High taxes improve the economy, according to John Manley, the Canadian
industry minister.

His statement, made in response to a Commons finance committee report
that called on the government to focus more on ways to boost Canada's
lagging productivity, including the cutting of taxes, earned swift condemnation.

"Arguably high tax levels, if anything, should increase productivity
because it would drive innovation in order to lower other costs,"
the minister said December 5.

"So, I don't know that's a factor."

Scott Brison, the Progressive Conservative finance critic, said: "If
Mr. Manley believes that high taxes improve productivity, I would question
his competency as a minister."

"Every study in every country where they've ever evaluated the
effect of high taxes on productivity indicate they kill jobs and investment,"
he
added.

But Manley claimed it is not the case that high taxes hurt productivity,
but rather that they encourage highly skilled workers to move elsewhere.
"The problem with taxation more lies in the area that we don't
want to lose some of the people that could contribute to innovation
in our economy," he said. "And clearly that's one of the considerations
that we need to worry about."

Liberal MPs, in their majority pre-budget report, called on Paul Martin,
the finance minister, to cut taxes for middle and upper income Canadians
in his February budget.

Maurizio Bevilacqua, the Liberal chairman of the committee, defended
the call for tax cuts for the better off, noting they also contributed
to the government's success in wiping out its deficit.

The surtaxes were introduced to fight the deficit, and with the deficit
gone the taxes should now go too, he said outside the House.

One day later, Manley apologized for the comment and stated that he
hadn't actually meant say that taxes were good. Whoops.

State exits Microsoft suit

On December 7, South Carolina's attorney general said the state has
withdrawn from the federal antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp.

State attorney general Charlie Condon said the recent merger of America
Online Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. offered evidence that
competition is thriving in the computer industry.

"I can no longer justify our continued involvement or the expenditure
of state resources on a trial that has been made moot by the actions
of the competitive marketplace," Condon said in a statement. "The
Internet economy is the place where the winners and the losers of this
competition will rightfully be decided."

In May, the Justice Department and 20 states sued Microsoft for illegally
maintaining a monopoly in the computer operating systems market and
trying to extend that monopoly into Internet software.

Fur flies as protestors scuffle at La Scala debut

Bare-breasted animal rights activists barged into the foyer of Milan's
La Scala on December 7 and scuffled with police in an effort to shame
women wearing furs to the opening night of the opera house season.

Police were seen dragging six protesters, led by socialite and anti-fur
crusader Marina Ripa Di Meana, out of the theater. Witnesses saw some
scuffles on the pavement outside.

Di Meana, a veteran activist for animal rights, wore a short black
jacket that she flung open despite the freezing temperature to reveal
the words "No Fur" written in large blue letters across her
bare chest. Another woman, sporting the same message, wore just a black
pair of pants under a brown overcoat.

Outside, three protestors with fake blood on their faces and hands
lay in coffins emblazoned with the words "Better Dead than in Fur."

"It's a shame that even approaching 2000 there are still people
indifferent to nature. Shame on you for still wearing fur coats for
vanity," Di Meana shouted as fur-clad socialites filed into the
world-famous theater for a marathon six-hour performance of Richard
Wagner's opera "Twilight of the Gods."

Ripa Di Meana said the protestors had also managed to throw eggs at
some of the fur coats as Milan's glitterati prepared for the social
highlight of the year.

"We've got tickets but we're not going in," she added. "What's
more, there's a real horse in there that they're keeping backstage for
hours and hours."

The protest was organised by animal rights group People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA), which last year put Ripa Di Meana in a
white fur coat oozing red fake blood outside the theater while unconcerned
fur-clad matrons filed in.

Dan Matthews, 33, PETA's director of campaigns who flew from the United
States to take part, said the demonstration targeted at members of an
older generation who "still see furs as a status symbol."

"With all these furs there is more tragedy in the cloakroom than
on the stage," he said, but acknowledged fewer of the Milanese
opera crowd were wearing fur than he had expected.

Hughes accused of aiding China

Defense Department investigators have reportedly concluded that a Hughes
Electronics subsidiary gave China information potentially damaging to
US national security.

According to the New York Times of December 9, which said it was given
an 11-page unclassified version of a secret report, Hughes Space and
Communications scientists helped the Chinese update their formulas for
determining the effects of wind and other forces on rockets after a
Chinese rocket carrying a Hughes-built commercial satellite crashed
in 1995. This information could have helped Chinese engineers in their
work on nuclear missiles.

Chinese rockets are popular with Western companies because they can
provide a far cheaper means to deploy satellites than European or American
launches. The problem has been unreliability -- and how far companies
have gone (and have been allowed to go) in addressing that problem has
become a military and political issue in the United States.

Hughes and Loral Space & Communications (LOR) are under investigation
by the Justice Department and two congressional committees for their
role in transferring technology to the Chinese after they lost satellites
in two Chinese rocket explosions.

The report leaked to The Times was prepared by Air Force Intelligence
and the Defense Technology Security Administration at the request of
two congressional committees investigating the transfer of sensitive
space technology to China.

According to the Times, the report said that while Hughes' aid "raises
national security concerns," it probably did not tilt the US-China
military balance.

A similar but distinct spin on the report appeared in The Washington
Post. Citing the comments of unnamed administration officials, it said
the Pentagon concluded that Hughes "went well beyond what should
have been allowed" when it told China the crash was caused by problems
with the rocket's fairing, a heat-resistant shroud covering the satellite.

Either way, the papers seems to be in agreement that Pentagon investigators
think Hughes went too far in aiding Chinese engineers -- a claim Hughes
rejects.

The Post quoted a Hughes spokesman who said that no one at the company
had seen the report but that the company stood by earlier statements
that it had not transferred any information that China could use to
improve its ballistic missiles. Ballistic missiles do not have fairings.

The Hughes satellite was to have been launched into space in 1995,
but the Chinese Long March rocket carrying it exploded only seconds
after takeoff, prompting Chinese officials to blame the satellite.

Hughes asked for and received permission from the Commerce Department
to discuss its views on what happened, although the company was told
to be careful not to disclose rocketry data that could assist Beijing
in developing military missiles.

Republicans have contended that under the Clinton administration, the
Commerce Department, eager to aid US businesses, was lax in its oversight
of possible technology transfers to China. In 1996, President Clinton
loosened the rules governing satellite exports to China, but Congress
this year overturned that decision.

The Justice Department is also probing allegations that the CIA obstructed
justice by allegedly warning Hughes about the congressional probe into
its dealings with China.

Appeal court upholds quashing job quotas

The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the provincial government's right
to repeal job quota laws.

The law, introduced by the NDP in 1992, was designed to reverse discrimination
in the workplace against women, visible minorities, native Canadians
and the disabled.

The legislation went further than any previous equity laws, requiring
employers to compile a detailed report on the makeup of their workforce,
identify why some groups were under-represented, then devise a plan
to help increase those numbers.

But the Conservatives dismissed the law as an unfair and divisive "quota
system," that tied the hands of employers, created unnecessary
bureaucracy and discriminated against some workers.

In place of the act, the Harris government created a policy on workplace
discrimination consisting of voluntary measures including public information,
an academic assessment service, and a fund for disabled people to help
them compete in the workplace.

The Alliance for Employment Equity failed in a 1997 bid to bring back
the legislation. It launched an appeal of that verdict, which was upheld
by the province's Court of Appeal on Tuesday.

Isabel Bassett, minister of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation, issued
a release on December 9 hailing the court victory.

"The government is very pleased the court has upheld the government's
right to repeal job quota laws," she said in the release. "Discrimination
through job quotas, or any other form, has no place in this province."

The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund said it was disappointed
the court "failed to protect the human rights protections from
the vagaries of changing political opinion."

Carissima Mathen, the action fund's lawyer, said the ruling allows governments
to eliminate human rights protections by discarding any laws enacted
by a previous government.

Rupert Murdoch wins praise from China president/Capitalism gone
bad

Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, crowning his efforts to win back Beijing's
favor and crack open the Chinese media market, met President Jiang Zemin
last month, who praised his coverage of China.

He has since worked hard to repair the damage -- and establish a foothold
in the tightly controlled Chinese media market. His decision to dump
BBC news from his Asian satellite broadcaster STAR TV was widely seen
as an attempt to soothe Chinese authorities.

His meeting with Jiang in Beijing on December 10 demonstrated that
his efforts to woo China have begun to pay off.

Jiang "expressed appreciation for the efforts made by world media
mogul Rupert Murdoch in presenting China objectively and cooperating
with the Chinese press over the past two years," Xinhua news agency
reported.

The China Daily splashed a picture of the Australian-born magnate shaking
hands with Jiang on its front page.

Xinhua said Murdoch "expressed his admiration for China's tremendous
achievements in every respect over the past two decades."

Murdoch told Jiang he was "willing to further enhance friendly
cooperation to present the world with a better understanding of China,"
according to Xinhua.

In a prepared statement after the meeting, Murdoch said he was "optimistic
about the scope for cooperation with Chinese media industry partners."

Hong Kong-based STAR broadcasts to tens of millions of homes in China.
Phoenix was adopted by cable operators in southern Guangdong province
in 1997 -- the first non-mainland satellite television operator to secure
such official approval.

In addition, News Corp has a joint venture with the Communist Party
mouthpiece, the People's Daily, producing an Internet service with technology
information.

In his statement, Murdoch said News Corp was holding discussions in
China on cooperation in film and television production for international
markets.

He noted the success in China of News Corp's 20th Century Fox studio
division, responsible for the blockbuster "Titanic," which
was a smash hit in China -- and was publicly praised by Jiang.

Murdoch said he was "extremely pleased with the progress thus
far."

He visited China at the invitation of the Information Office of the
State Council, or cabinet. The visit coincided with approval of a News
Corp representative Office in Beijing.

To avoid upsetting Beijing, Murdoch this year ordered his HarperCollins
publisher to drop the memoirs of Hong Kong's last British governor,
Chris Patten, who had angered China with plans for democracy before
last year's handover.

Patten's book "East and West" criticizes what he believes
is Western kowtowing to China.

Murdoch was straightforward in answering criticism that he had bowed
to China.

"I told them not to publish the Patten book. There are plenty
of publishers who would be happy to do so. We are trying to get set
up in China. Why should we upset them? Let somebody else upset them,"
he said at the time.

HarperCollins had earlier published an English version of a biography
of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

One class act

Alec Baldwin may be a friend to all creatures great and small, but
Republicans are apparently a different animal altogether. The actor
and staunch Bill Clinton supporter was feeling the heat over some remarks
he made about Illinois Republican Henry Hyde December 11 on the Conan
O'Brien Show.

"If we were in other countries, we would all of us together
would go down to Washington, and we would stone Henry Hyde to death!
We would stone him to death!" Baldwin shouted, tongue presumably
in cheek, as the crowd cheered.

"No, shut up! I'm not finished!" Baldwin told the audience.
"We would stone [him] to death, and we would go to their homes,
and we'd kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families."

Keep in mind this call to violence is from the same man who nearly
canceled a Clinton fund-raiser when he found out that foie graswhich
is made by force-feeding geese to enlarge their liverswas on the
menu.

Hyde was not amused by Baldwin's rant, telling the Chicago Tribune,
"I'm sickened by it. You have someone like that, talking
in those terms, about killing your family? To kill my family because
you disagree with me? To laugh about that? There are people out there,
sick people, who are just waiting for a push."

Hyde, the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, added, "Excuse me
for not laughing. He wants my family stoned to death by a mob. Imagine
if a Republican said such a thing. I don't find the humor in it."

According to the Washington Post, Baldwin, who claims the bit was a
joke meant to mock the Committee, wrote a letter of apology to Hyde,
saying he was sorry the politician didn't get the humor.

"In the current supercharged climate there's no room for this
kind of glibness," the actor said.

MPAA president Jack Valenti has also entered the fray, telling Variety
on Thursday that he would call or write Baldwin to tell the star that
his comments were "over the top" and "so off base as
to boggle the mind."

NBC says it won't rerun the Conan episodeever. "The skit
was obviously a joke and meant to be taken as such," a network
spokesman tells the Post. "However, in retrospect, there are sensitivities,
given the climate in Washington, and we won't re-air it."

Y2K? Troops on the streets for Canada?

The federal government should consider invoking the Emergencies Act,
the successor to the War Measures Act, if the millennium bug causes
widespread chaos, according to newly obtained government documents reported
on by the National Post on December 12.

The report, by the Year 2000 contingency planning group of Emergency
Preparedness Canada, calls for orders and regulations for the Emergencies
Act to be ready by the end of March.

"In the worst case, we should consider the Emergencies Act a potential
source of special powers," urge documents prepared by government
in July and August and obtained by the Citizen under the Access to Information
Act.

"Among the activities that must be done to meet the problems resulting
from Y2000 failures is development of relevant emergency orders and
regulations required for the invocation of emergency provisions under
the Emergencies Act."

Federal departments are to identify what emergency orders would be
needed in their areas of responsibility to deal with a countrywide disaster
caused by the millennium bug. Those orders and regulations should have
been in place in 1988 -- when the Emergencies Act was brought in to
replace the War Measures Act -- but federal departments failed to develop
them. While the lack of emergency orders and regulations among federal
departments would not have prevented the Emergencies Act from being
invoked, it would have meant that any federal response to a large-scale
crisis would not have run smoothly.

Defence Minister Art Eggleton, who is in charge of Emergency Preparedness
Canada, will also be issued with a step-by-step guidebook on actions
to be taken in a "major or catastrophic emergency" caused
by the millennium bug, according to the report.

That book will include all the documents needed and the names of provincial
officials who should be consulted before the federal government invokes
the Emergencies Act.

The War Measures Act was last invoked by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
on October 16, 1970, to deal with the FLQ terrorist threat -- the first
and only peacetime implementation of such sweeping powers.

The Front de Liberation du Quebec had kidnapped British diplomat James
Cross, who was later released, and Liberal cabinet minister Pierre Laporte,
who was slain. During the crisis, Canadian troops were ordered to protect
public figures, and 497 possible suspects were arbitrarily rounded up
and arrested in an attempt to break the FLQ cell structure.

Defence spokesman Maj. John Blakeley said the process now being put
in place is simply part of "prudent" planning to deal with
the millennium bug and does not automatically mean the Emergencies Act
will be enacted.

"The question of whether it will be required or not is one that
will have to be determined at the time," Maj. Blakeley said. "Basically,
this is saying, 'If it gets to that stage, is everything ready?' "

Maj. Blakeley said all scenarios have to be considered, including the
most unlikely one: widespread major problems caused by the millennium
bug. He added that the Defence department is confident it will be ready
to handle any emergencies associated with the computer glitch.

Several months ago the Canadian Forces were told to prepare for the
biggest peacetime deployment of troops ever in case computer failures
caused by the Year 2000 problem disrupted key services. The plan, dubbed
Operation Abacus, also involves the development of rules governing the
use of force by soldiers in case they are called upon to assist police
in dealing with emergency incidents.

Number of Americans paying zero income taxes nears 48 million

More Americans than ever are paying no income taxes in 1998, but the
tax burden on people earning more than $40 000 a year continues to grow,
a congressional study announced last month.

On December 15, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that nearly
48 million Americans owed no federal income tax for this year, in part
because of the new $400-a-child tax credit. That compares with 46 million
in 1997.

But taxpayers with incomes above $40 000 will pay 96 percent of income
tax for 1998, up from 94 percent the year before, according to the estimates.
And people at the higher end of the income spectrum -- above $100 000
a year -- will shoulder 62 percent of the 1998 income tax burden, compared
with 56 percent the year before.

"More taxes are being collected from fewer people," said
Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and
Means Committee.

The jump in the number of Americans who won't owe taxes is traceable
mainly to the child tax credit, which is new for 1998 tax returns due
April 15. Parents can claim the $400 credit for each child under age
17 -- that includes stepchildren and foster children -- subject to certain
total income limits.

For many, this credit, combined with others, will erase any tax liability
for the first time.

"This is designed to help families, to give them a little extra
break," said J. Randy Penn, a tax planner at H&R Block. "These
credits are designed to pay as much of your taxes for you as possible."

For families with one or two children, the credit can reduce income
taxes to zero but not trigger a refund. But for families with three
or more children, a portion of the total credit can result in a refund,
according to the Internal Revenue Service.

One other thing to keep in mind: The total credit for all children
in the family drops by $50 for each $1 000 a taxpayer's adjusted gross
income exceeds $110 000 for married people filing jointly, $55 000 for
married people filing separately and $75 000 for single filers.

Next year, the child tax credit increases to $500.

The millions of people who pay no income tax aren't completely off
the hook. They are still subject to the taxes that pay for Social Security
and Medicare, which amount to 7.65 percent combined.

But the Joint Committee on Taxation study demonstrates a continuing
shift in how U.S. government operations ranging from the Army to welfare
are paid for. The 52.4 million taxpayers earning more than $40 000 will
pay 95.5 percent of the nation's income taxes in 1998, up from 93.6
percent a year earlier.

Most of those owing no income taxes earn less than $20 000 a year.
By contrast, less than 1 percent of people earning more than $75 000
a year pay no taxes -- and the average tax liability for those between
$100 000 and $200 000 is $19 688 for 1998.

"Almost 50 million Americans have been excused from paying any
income taxes," Archer said. "Now, it's time to concentrate
tax relief on the middle-income people who pay the bills."

Archer is among the congressional proponents of a cut in income taxes,
possibly an across-the-board reduction in rates or more targeted proposals
such as eliminating the "marriage penalty" paid by millions
of two-income couples.

WHO urged to consider global anti-tobacco accord

International health experts urged the World Health Organization on
December 16 to lead a global fight against tobacco use similar to the
battle waged against landmines.

Experts from 18 countries, working in Vancouver, proposed an anti-tobacco
convention for the United Nations health agency, saying efforts by individual
nations to fight smoking are not adequate.

A report released in October estimated there are more than 1.2 billion
smokers in the world and that 70 percent are in developing countries.
More 10 000 people die each day from smoking-related diseases, the meeting
was told. The meeting was not informed about the WHO study which showed
no effects to non-smokers due to second hand smoke, a finding limited
to one paragraph in a 600 page WHO report.

Yach said the anti-smoking campaign needed the political force of an
international convention, such as those used to ban landmines and against
ozone depletion.

"That means it takes it to the level of foreign policy people
and not (just) health ministers. Much of the tobacco control issues
have nothing to do with health ministers," Yach said.

Representatives of the WHO are scheduled to meet in January with other
UN agencies and the International Monetary Fund to develop a coordinated
anti-tobacco strategy.

Efforts to develop an international convention on tobacco control are
only in their early stages, and although officials said the strategy
is on an accelerated schedule, any adoption of an accord is not expected
until 2003.

If adopted, it would be the first such international treaty on fighting
a health issue.

Yach stressed that the convention, as envisioned now, would not call
for a ban on tobacco use, but could include controls on cigarette marketing
and promote efforts to inform smokers of the health dangers.

Speakers warned the Vancouver gathering that the fight against tobacco
use is inadequately funded, and nations must work together because the
tobacco industry is international.

"Just as tobacco is marketed by multinational companies, so too
does tobacco cause multinational problems," said British Columbia
Health Minister Penny Priddy.

In November, British Columbia became the first Canadian province to
sue the tobacco industry over the health costs. The suit is similar
to those filed in the United States by more than 40 states and is expected
to use evidence developed in the those legal battles.

Yach acknowledged an international anti-smoking effort would likely
face opposition from both the industry and countries that export tobacco.
"I can't promise it is going to be an easy debate," he said.

Hollywood elite show their support

In his darkest hour, President Clinton learned who his friends really
areand they seem to be clustered in Hollywood. Barbra Streisand,
Jack Nicholson, Elisabeth Shue, and Ted Danson and his wife, Mary Steenburgen,
were some of the big names who turned out December 16 in West Los Angeles
to lead an anti-impeachment rally organized by People for the American
Way, a group started by TV producer Norman Lear.

"Who could have imagined that we would be living in a time when
those we elected to office would turn their backs on the public and
ignore the voice of the American people," Streisand asked a cheering
crowd of about 1 000 supporters.

"With a true abuse of power, the congressional leadership is determined
to force the removal of a twice-elected president from office, one who
has done a great job here at home and is acclaimed as a peacemaker around
the world," Streisand railed.

Danson said he understands the tough choice facing the House Republicans,
but urged, "We're really looking for heroes." Still, the actor
wasn't optimistic, saying, "It feels that no matter what the majoritywe,
the peoplewant, Congress is going to impeach our president."

Nicholson reportedly hadn't planned to speak, but did rise to the podium,
telling the crowd, "This is not a rally about my friend President
Clinton. It's about the presidency."

The three-time Oscar winner added, "I wanted to come down today
because the presidency of the United States is at stake. Both parties
could stop this tomorrow morning. I'm just here to wish you all a Merry
Christmas and say I hope they do."

Steenburgen, a friend of the Clinton family dating back to their Arkansas
days, was the only speaker to talk about Clinton's bad behavior, criticizing
his affair with Monica Lewinsky but predicting he wouldn't be removed
from office.

"The flame you are concerned about will not consume Bill Clinton,"
Steenburgen said. "You will not burn him at the stake."

At the close of the rally, Titanic actress Frances Fisher led the crowd
in singing "God Bless America."

Gore, Hoffa side with NABET picketers

Vice President Gore and Teamsters president-elect James P. Hoffa gave
NABET members some high-profile support December 16.

Gore, who happened to be visiting a hotel across the street from the
ABC News Bureau, was cheered by picketing NABET members as he entered
his limousine. The vice president started to cross the street to meet
with the National Assn. of Broadcast Employees & Technicians members
but was stopped by an aide. Instead, Gore stood on the doorwell of his
limo, raised his fist in solidarity and shouted, "I support you
guys."

Union members roared cheerfully in response.

Gore has been in the good graces of NABET ever since he refused to
do a post-election interview with an ABC correspondent on the same day
that the lockout began.

A few hours after Gore lent his impromptu support to the picketers,
Hoffa stopped by to walk the picket line.

"Mickey Mouse is a Teamster, Mickey Louse is Michael Eisner,"
proclaimed Hoffa in a display of solidarity and Muhammed Ali-like poetic
skill.

Hoffa, who was elected president of the 1.4 million member Teamsters
in early December, pledged his union's support for NABET. The Teamsters
union, including UPS drivers, have refused to make deliveries to ABC
offices since the lockout began.

ABC locked out union workers on November 3 in response to a 24-hour
strike by union members over health benefits.

Since his election, Hoffa has pledged that he would lead a more militant
union. He certainly had strong words for ABC and its corporate parent
Disney. "Your fight is our fight," said Hoffa. "We are
all bound together against corporate greed."

NABET strikers responded by chanting, "Hoffa, Hoffa, Hoffa."

Apparently Canada's Liberals don't have enough to think about already...

Senior Liberals, including top officials in the Prime Minister's Office,
are promoting an end to the Queen's role as head of state to mark the
millennium.

Lawrence Martin, a columnist for Southam News and Jean Chretien's biographer,
said the idea of abolishing the monarchy was floated to him by a senior
advisor in the Prime Minister's Office as "a grand project to kick
off the new millennium."

Martin said the government has "no intention of putting the momentous
project on the front burner," but officials are putting out the
idea to "test public opinion in the hope of gathering sufficient
support to move forward."

Peter Donolo, the prime minister's communications director, confirmed
that there has been behind-the-scenes talk of a non-monarchical system
in Canada. He conceded "a lot of Liberals find this kind of thing
intriguing," but added, "there are no plans to currently move
ahead."

To end the Queen's role as head of state would require a constitutional
amendment, which needs the approval of all 10 provinces. It would be
difficult for Ottawa to win unanimous approval, given support for the
Queen in provinces such as Nova Scotia and P.E.I.

Martin wrote in a column on December 18 that the idea has been put
to the prime minister. "An official who talked to him said he is
open to debate on the question but is concerned about 'awakening a sleeping
dog.' "

The prime minister is under pressure to break out of his image of running
a care-taker government with a bold initiative, which is why senior
officials are pushing Canada's break with the Crown.

Herb Dhaliwal, the revenue minister, told Martin that he supports abolition
of the monarchy and predicted that the proposition could win approval
in his home province of British Columbia.

This is not the first time the issue of abolishing the monarchy has
been raised by the Liberal government.

In September, 1997, John Manley, the industry minister, said he favoured
the removal of Queen Elizabeth as Canada's constitutional monarch. Mr.
Manley had sought and received approval from the prime minister's office
to float the issue.

A week earlier, Lloyd Axworthy, the foreign affairs minister, said
he would welcome a debate on the monarchy's role in Canada. Mr. Axworthy's
remarks came while he was in London representing Canada at the funeral
of Diana, Princess of Wales.

See, things in China are changing

Two members of a new Chinese opposition party were sentenced on December
21 to long jail terms after trials that lasted only a few hours.

A court sentenced prominent dissident Xu Wenli to 13 years in prison,
after accusing him of trying to subvert state power by organizing an
opposition party.

His wife, who was at the trial, said he denounced the proceedings as
"political persecution" and refused to answer questions from
the judge.

When the punishment was announced, Xu and his wife both shouted, "I
protest," she said.

"He will not appeal," she said. Xu believes that "To
appeal would be admitting a crime. And under no circumstance is he willing
to admit to this crime."

Separately, a court in the eastern city of Hangzhou jailed another
organizer of the Chinese Democratic Party, Wang Youcai, for 11 years.
Wang's trial took place December 17.

A third party member, Qin Yongmin, was still awaiting a verdict after
his trial in the central industrial city of Wuhan, was also sentenced
to 12 years.

The harsh sentence for Xu followed a 3 1/2 hour trial, said court-appointed
lawyer Mo Shaoping. The trial was conducted in secrecy amid tight security.
Xu's wife, who only learned of the trial three days earlier, was the
only person among family and supporters allowed to attend.

The sentence underscores the Chinese government's resolve to crush
dissent. The U.S. embassy in Beijing called Xu's 13-year sentence "deplorable."

The trials followed the release one day earlier of prominent labor
activist Liu Nianchun from prison on medical parole. Liu and his family
were sent into exile in the United States. Liu and his wife, Chu Hailan,
and their 11-year-old daughter arrived in New York that evening. International
human rights groups attacked China for attempting to use Liu's release
to deflect international criticism and attention from the show trials.

After the order was given for his release, Liu was taken from a prison
camp outside Beijing and, with his wife and daughter, boarded a plane
to Canada and then New York, in his first taste of freedom in more than
3 1/2 years.

Xu, 55, had already spent 12 years in jail for participating in a democracy
movement. In his trial, he was accused of seeking to challenge the Communist
Party's power by helping to set up an opposition group, the Chinese
Democratic Party.

Uniformed and plainclothes police cordoned off the Beijing Intermediate
Court in the city's western suburbs, preventing journalists and others
from approaching within 500 yards of the building.

Three plainclothes police equipped with radios followed Xu's wife,
He Xintong, as she took the subway to the trial. To prevent supporters
from rallying, police detained two of Xu's colleagues the day before
and kept watch on the homes of at least two others, friends and a Hong
Kong human rights group reported.

The human rights group said more than 250 dissidents across China had
urged U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and U.N. High Commissioner for
Human Rights Mary Robinson to pressure China to release Xu, and the
two others.

Xu was detained three weeks earlier, and the court appointed a lawyer
for weeks later, too late to mount a credible defense, said He Xintong.
Xu had been jailed for 12 years for his role in the 1978-79 Democracy
Wall movement. Most of that time was spent in solitary confinement.

Just 10 weeks before meting out the harsh sentences, China won widespread
praise for signing the U.N. International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, which guarantees free speech and assembly and other liberties.

Noted expert on New Zealand?

Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, America's first black female senator, has
been offered the ambassadorship to New Zealand, according to a top aide
to the senator.

The White House told the Illinois Democrat she could have the job if
she wants it, William Mattea, her chief of staff, said December 21.

Braun was defeated for re-election last month after a controversial
term in office.

A White House spokesman did not confirm the offer after media inquiries.

Moseley-Braun is undecided about the offer. She is also considering
going on the lecture circuit or returning to practicing law.

"It is only in the works if she decides to go ahead with it,"
Mattea said.

Ambassadorial nominations must be approved by the Senate, but they
usually are not questioned for former members of Congress going to posts
such as the one in a Commonwealth nation in the South Pacific popular
with tourists.

Moseley-Braun's re-election bid was undone by criticism of her 1996
visit to a brutal Nigerian dictator and allegations, never proven, that
she used 1993 campaign funds to pay for designer clothes, stereo equipment,
jewelry, cars and travel.

She was unsuccessful, despite the White House's eagerness to see her
win a second term. President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and first
lady Hillary Rodham Clinton each headlined several fund-raisers and
campaigned repeatedly for her during more than a year leading up to
the November 3 election.

But her opponent, Republican Sen.-elect Peter Fitzgerald, used $11.7
million in loans and donations from his personal banking fortune to
pay for a barrage of effective television ads criticizing her ethics
and ridiculing her record. The race tightened at the end, and Moseley-Braun
wound up losing by a margin of 51 percent to 47 percent -- much closer
than earlier polls had indicated.

Clinton, Starr named Time's Men of the Year

Special Independent Counsel Ken Starr, whose investigation into Clinton
led to the president's impeachment, appears behind Clinton's shoulder,
partially shadowed, on an illustrated Time cover that both men share
as the magazine's "Men of the Year" for 1998.

Clinton was Time's sole choice in 1992, but the editors chose Starr
to share the limelight with the president after the two dominated the
year's headlines.

"The news reinforced our decision, which we had been wrestling
with until the final days," wrote Walter Isaacson, Time's managing
editor.

"The year drew to a close the way it had opened in January, with
events being driven by what these two men had wrought," said Isaacson,
who also said the two men's "shared obstinacy but radically different
personalities and values caused them to become entwined in a sullied
embrace and paired for history."

Other candidates for the title were Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan,
Sen. John Glenn, baseball slugger Mark McGwire and the Irish peacemakers.
Isaacson confirmed speculation that Hillary Rodham Clinton had been
a leading contender for the magazine's annual nod to the year's top
newsmaker.

"But at decision time it came down to who, in the end, had the
most impact on the way the news actually unfolded throughout the year,"
wrote Isaacson. He defined the Man of the Year as "the person or
persons who most affected the news of our lives, for good or for ill,
and embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse."

Clinton and Starr join an elite group to receive the designation, stretching
from the first winner, Charles Lindbergh in 1927, to last year's winner,
Andrew Grove, chairman of Intel Corp. Other winners in the '90s include
Ted Turner, Pope John Paul II and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

In the past, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and the Ayatollah Khomeini
have also been chosen Man of the Year.

James Woods attacks Clinton

It turns out that not every Democrat in Hollywood is a close personal
friend of Bill's. Just a week after stars such as Barbra Streisand,
Jack Nicholson, and Ted Danson rallied in support of the president,
James Woods was standing firm in his opposition.

"He's a certified liar, a card-carrying liar, and lying is the
cancer at the base of the spine of every crime ever committed,"
the actor told the Washington Post on December 23.

Woods, 51, believes Clinton deserved impeachment, and is certain the
Senate will end up removing him from office.

"I don't even like Republicans by and large, but if they're doing
this, maybe they're doing it because they believe in it," he told
the paper.

In fact, Woods was more upset over the fact that Clinton gave China
access to militarily sensitive technology than the whole Lewinsky mess,
but says that the impeachment is like "getting Al Capone for income
tax evasion."

Woods concedes that he's no monument to honesty. "When I lie,
I'm wrong," the actor explains. "I'm not a perfect person,
but I have perfect ideals. This guy is a [expletive deleted] sociopath.
I'm ashamed to be a Democrat."

Former White House spokesman says Clinton already punished

Former White House spokesman Mike McCurry said December 27 that he
was "troubled" by his ex-boss Bill Clinton's behavior but
he said the president has already suffered the most hurtful punishment
-- impeachment.

"For someone who loves the presidency and loves that White House
and is a student of it, that will hurt him a lot forever when he's down
in Little Rock at his library," McCurry said on NBC's "Meet
the Press."

By being impeached by the House, Clinton "has now suffered in
history what no other president save (Andrew) Johnson has suffered,
and that is going to be with him forever," McCurry told host Tim
Russert.

"The key question is ... what as a nation do we do that renders
the right kind of punishment that allows us ... to move on to all the
other things that we're going to have to address?" McCurry said.

He said he believed he was expressing the general U.S. opinion "on
the question of what is the public harm that's been done here."

McCurry, who ended four years as chief White House spokesman October
2, did not repudiate comments he made earlier in December in a BBC television
interview.

Asked then whether Clinton was fit to be president, McCurry had replied:
"I have enormous doubts because of the recklessness of his behavior.
I mean, the nature of this particular affair (with former White House
intern Monica Lewinsky) and then the way in which he did conceal it
really does raise some very profound and troubling matters."

But on Meet the Press, McCurry said he had probably "violated
the press secretary's rule that you don't try to express a complicated
thought in a sound-bite medium."

"All the positive things that I said were not kind of excerpted
and shown," he said.

Although he was troubled by the president's behavior, McCurry said,
"I'm troubled by some of my own behavior sometimes. I think about
it. I worry about it. I pray about it. I see if I can do better next
time around."

McCain prepares for a presidential bid

Republican Sen. John McCain, an independent-minded conservative who
spent 5 1/2 years in a prison camp during the Vietnam War, filed papers
with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) December 30 to form a presidential
exploratory committee.

The filing is considered a first step in formally advancing a campaign
for a presidential nomination. The committee will be co-chaired by former
Sen. Warren Rudman (R-New Hampshire) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona).

Senior advisers to McCain, an Arizona Republican, say it is all but
certain that McCain will run for the Republican nomination for president
in 2000. McCain is not expected to formally announce his campaign for
several weeks, however.

Rudman told The Associated Press the FEC filing "marks the first
significant step forward in a campaign for president by John McCain."

Rudman said McCain has received significant encouragement to run in
2000 from "a wide array of people over the last several months."

"Many, many Republicans and Americans yearn for a new kind of
leadership," Rudman told the AP. "John McCain is unique in
his ability to offer conservative, independent experienced leadership.
That's why we believe he must seriously consider running for president
in 2000."

Other Republicans looking at making a presidential bid in 2000 include
Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri, magazine
publisher Steve Forbes, former Vice President Dan Quayle and former
Education Secretary and Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander.

Shamans say Clinton to survive scandal, Monica to suffer

The final authorities on the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal have spoken.

President Bill Clinton will survive the sex scandal hounding him and
serve out his full term, Andean soothsayers predicted December 30.

The shamans, descendants of the Inca empire that once ruled Peru, said
they based their predictions on visions brought on by drinking a brew
made from a jungle vine, a hallucinogen they say has curative, religious
and extrasensory powers.

"Clinton will survive, but Monica (Lewinsky) will suffer because
she writes a book and the truth of it will be challenged," said
Juan Osco, 45, after he spat a herb mixture over photos of Clinton,
Lewinsky and other famous figures.

The ceremony involving eight soothsayers atop a hill overlooking Lima
takes place each year to bless the new year and appease the god Apu,
who they say inhabits the hill.

It must be those damn baby boomers...

Despite the House of Representatives' vote to impeach him, President
Bill Clinton once again is the man most admired by the American public
and Hillary Clinton is once again the public's most admired woman, according
to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll released on December 30.

When asked "What man have you heard or read about, living today
in any part of the world, do you admire most?" 18 percent of people
surveyed named President Clinton as their first or second choice.

When asked the same question about women living today in any part of
the world, 28 percent named Hillary Clinton as their first or second
choice. That was twice the number who did so a year ago. Her husband's
18 percent figure this year is slightly higher than the 14 percent he
notched in 1997.

Why does Clinton rank as the public's most admired man even after his
impeachment by the House on December 19?

For the last fifty years, every president with an approval rating greater
than 50 percent at the end of the year has topped the list. Since 1948,
the incumbent president has ranked at the top of the most admired list
only seven times, and only when their approval ratings were low: Harry
Truman in 1951 and 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1967 and 1968, Richard Nixon
in 1973, Gerald Ford in 1974 and Jimmy Carter in 1980.

The CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey was based on interviews with 1 055
adult Americans conducted December 28-29. The people who participated
in the poll were given no choices; they had to answer without prompting.

Despite recently announced Employment Insurance (EI) tax reductions,
Canadians will pay higher payroll taxes in 1999 due to the increase
in Canada Pension Plan (CPP) taxes according to the Canadian Taxpayers
Federation (CTF). Once the combined effect of the EI decrease and the
CPP increase is calculated, a Canadian worker earning $39 000 will actually
pay $59.20 more in payroll taxes in 1999 than they did in 1998. The
same worker will pay $376 more in payroll taxes in 1999 as compared
to 1992.

Employers are also dinged for more payroll taxes. In 1999, employers
will cough up an extra $28 in payroll taxes for employees at the $39
000 threshold. A full $332 more in 1999 as compared to 1992.

"Despite Paul Martins rhetoric, payroll taxes in this country
continue to skyrocket like Superman, up, up and away. Indeed, they have
increased for seven years," said CTF federal director Walter Robinson.
"Messrs. Martin and Chretien are responsible for raising payroll
taxes every single year since they took office in 1993. This is the
legacy that they are leaving Canadians with a punishing payroll
tax burden."

CTF calculations, based on federal government figures, show employees
earning $39 000 in 1992 paid $1 803.60 in payroll taxes in 1992 (combined
CPP and EI taxes). That compares to $2 163 forecast total payroll taxes
in 1999. Meanwhile, employers will pay $2 560.80 in payroll taxes for
employees at $39 000 next year compared to $2 246.64 in 1992.

Robinson called on the federal government to further reduce EI taxes
in 1999 to offset the effects of higher CPP taxes, and to enact the
tax relief proposals in the CTFs pre-budget submission (November
17, 1998) to the House of Commons Finance Committee. The CTF called
for a 10 per cent across-the-board tax cut, the complete elimination
of the 3 per cent and 5 per cent federal surtaxes and for full indexation
of the income tax system to inflation.

For more detailed information and charts on 1999 payroll taxes, view
"PAYROLL TAXES IN 1999: UP, UP AND AWAY" at www.taxpayer.com.
The full text of the CTFs pre-budget submission can also be found
on the CTF website.